Manual operations, particularly those requiring repetitive or sustained grasping of a work tool or other object over an extended period of time, tend to cause fatigue. Fatigue may manifest itself in an operator's hands, fingers, and forearms. As a result, an operator's grasp strength and productivity may decline over the course of a work day. Relative grasp strength may also vary among different operators due to inherent differences in the physical stature, strength, injury, and/or relative levels of muscle fatigue of the operators.
The variable nature of an operator's grasp strength may result in inefficiencies in the execution of certain grasp-related work tasks. Prior art approaches that have recognized this problem tend to reinforce the operator's structural stability via wrist straps or back braces. To a certain extent, ergonomic improvements in the workplace have eased the levels of stress experienced during manual task execution, for instance by overhead lift assistance robots, improved materials placement, and the like. However, these and other prior art devices may remain less than optimal for improving the overall grasp strength of an operator.